Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Market Outperform Rating Reiterated at Citizens Jmp

Citizens Jmp reaffirmed their market outperform rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $385.00 target price on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. New Street Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $340.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $290.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 target price (up previously from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $357.46.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $322.86 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.87, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $349.00. The company’s 50-day moving average is $321.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $270.73.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 7.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.52, for a total transaction of $202,512.00. Following the sale, the director owned 21,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,163,524.48. The trade was a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 2,067,686 shares of company stock worth $105,352,291 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Kentucky Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $53,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet beat Q4 estimates with $113.8B revenue, $2.82 EPS, huge Google Cloud growth (48% y/y) and milestone annual revenue above $400B — evidence that AI and ads are driving durable top‑line momentum. Alphabet Crushes Earnings Again, Reports 48% Cloud Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Gemini/product adoption and a surging cloud backlog (reported at ~$240B) support longer‑term revenue leverage from AI investments — a structural growth argument investors and many analysts are citing. Google goes from laggard to leader as it pulls ahead of OpenAI with stellar AI growth
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple brokers raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views after the quarter (e.g., Citigroup, JPMorgan, RBC, Needham, Mizuho), providing analyst support under the share price. Multiple analyst price target raises (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short interest data shows no meaningful short position change (reads as negligible/quiet on short‑selling activity), so moves are likely driven by flows and sentiment rather than a short squeeze.
• Neutral Sentiment: ETF/sector flows and inclusion chatter (new Big Tech ETFs) can amplify moves in GOOGL but are not company‑specific catalysts. Big Tech Core: New Burney ETF Packs Apple, Nvidia, Google, Broadcom Punch
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet guided to $175–$185B of capex for 2026 (aimed at AI compute and cloud), a shockingly large jump that has investors fretting about near‑term free cash flow and returns on incremental AI spend — the dominant proximate cause of recent weakness. Alphabet resets the bar for AI infrastructure spending (CNBC)
• Negative Sentiment: Wider market narrative: fears about excessive AI capex are prompting a tech sell‑off (FactSet noted >$1T wiped from big‑tech), which weighs on Alphabet alongside company‑specific capex concerns. Big Tech sees over $1 trillion wiped from stocks as fears of AI bubble ignite sell-off
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling was reported after the quarter, adding near‑term pressure on sentiment. Alphabet Shares Down After Insider Selling
• Negative Sentiment: Employee protests over Google Cloud contracts with immigration agencies pose reputational/legal risk that can create headline volatility. Google Workers Demand End to Cloud Services for Immigration Agencies

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.